Like most things in my life, my reading journey proceeds in a convoluted and undirected fashion. The reading cut ends up being about 75% romance, 25% everything else.
Almost all of the books will have been supplied by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Sherlock Holmes is hella popular these days with movies, television shows, and books all re-imagining how these books could be reinterpreted -- brought into the modern day or different genres. This book invites thirteen different authors to do just that.Locked Mike Strauss
Set up as Sherlock and Watson being on some sort of reality show where Sherlock solves crimes and Watson plays the bumbling fool, who in fact is is league with the producers to make Sherlock look good. I didn't really get a good feel for the show or for Sherlock. The premise was interesting (basically the producers hire people to commit crimes so that Sherlock can solve the case) but didn't play out well in a short story.

Three stars

Identity: An Adventure of Shirley Holmes and Jack Watson Keith R. A. DeCandido
There have been a LOT of gender-swapping of the Holmes and Watson characters. Some more successful than others. This story not only plays with gender but with race. Set in the modern day, Watson encounters Martha Hudson while covering for her oncologist. It plays close to the beloved Sherlock Holmes we all know except that Shirley is her niece in this case and Martha wants someone to move in and keep an eye on her. The case they solve will be familiar to Holmes fans with some nicely updated twists.
Four stars

The Scent of Truth Jody Lynn Nye
A futuristic sci-fi Holmes. In this case, the Holmes-character is a dog-like being from another planet (named Baskur, naturally) and he has mainly retired but is lured into another case by a middle-aged journalist. There was some really nice world-building for a short story in this one and the info-dumping was kept short and tight.

Four stars

The Adventure of the Reluctant Detective Ryk Spoor
I swear I've read this one before. Or at least a similar version. Supposedly a case that takes place somewhere in the middle of the Holmes canon, soon after Mary dies, it starts with a strange woman entering Sherlock's apartment. She is not quite... right. For the woman she claims to be, there are some glaring discrepancies. To tell too much more would give the ending away but it wasn't quite up to the snuff of ACD.

Two and a half stars

A Scandal in the Bloodline Hildy Silverman
Suppose that Watson became a werewolf after an encounter with the Hounds of the Baskervilles. And that Sherlock was turned into a vampire at the edge of the Reichenbach Falls by Irene Adler. Now it is present day and Irene's huband, the paterfamilias, is missing. If he dies, she will go to. As will Sherlock.

Three stars

The Fabulous Marble David Gerrold
An interesting take where Watson is... some sort of computer program? Not an AI, exactly, since that's more what Marble does/is. There is a particular brand of sexbot, the Lorelei, that can become whatever the user desires; man, woman, other. Several bots that have been dismantled and their... well their male options have been removed. This one was a little too weird for me but a nice idea.
Three starsThe Scarlet Study by Jim Avelli
In a world where Big Brother makes people take drugs to keep them dumb, Sherlock Holmes has a brief, shining moment of reversing the trend.
Three stars
Delta Phi Heidi McLaughlin
If Watson were a love-struck frat boy and Sherlock an oblivious girl on campus, it would take a very special case to bring them together.
I love romance novels, I love cheese, this was a little too much.

Two stars

Beethoven's Baton Austin Famer
Sherlock and Watson are violinists in Ludwig van Beethoven's orchestra but it seems like someone is plotting to kill the great man.
Again, a little too much of a reach and the ending was bonkers.

Two stars

The Adventure of the Melted Saint Gail Z. Martin
Quirky. Very quirky. Sherlock was not the main character in this one. It felt like she (Shelley is transgender in this story) was just stuck into another story. As a Sherlock Holmes story, it was maybe a two/two and a half but I liked the idea of a Museum collecting objects that have ghosts attached, waiting for their mysteries to be solved.

Three stars

Automatic Sherlock Martin Rose
Dr. Jovan Watson is Russian, working on a robot that will perform the perfect surgeries. But instead of his dream being realized, he is left with a robot that can... solve crimes? Might have been better as a more developed story.

Two and a half stars

The Hammer of God Jonathan Maberry
A really interesting take where Sherlock Holmes and John Watson become a novice and her mentor who are called in to solve a series of crimes that seem to have been perpetrated by God himself. Not sure how I feel about this as a Sherlock story but I liked the idea.
Three stars
Code Cracker Beth W. Patterson
Sherlock is a crime-solving parrot. Do I need to say more? The idea was interesting, the story was just meh.